Visited by over 9 million people annually, the 2nd largest shrine in Japan, home of one of the Three Sacred Imperial treasures (the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi sword), displaying the longest samurai sword in the world, in the heart of Japan’s 3rd largest city Nagoya is Atsuta Shrine 「Atsuta-jingū/熱田神宮」.

Atsuta Shrine, Nagoya

Situated halfway between Osaka and Tokyo, Nagoya is an often overlooked or totally ignored by tourists to Japan. Just minutes from the city center, the Atsuta Shrine complex is big. This Shinto shrine has many buildings set among ancient groves, which features at 1000 year old tree.

Many small altars can be found in Atsuta Shrine’s grounds, each dedicated to different kami (spirits that are venerated in the Shinto religion). The mini torii (traditional Japanese Shinto gate) in this photo are offerings to the kami. People buy the plain wooden torii (resembling one of the huge torii at the shrine) and on them write their name and a prayer. This is a practice very common to many Japanese shrines, as any visitor to Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto will see.